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1-9 August 2020

This was Joe’s last week with us. Robert should be returning to the garden next Tuesday, which will be nice. Tuesday we tried to use the shredder. It was being stubborn and it finally spit out one of its belts. So no shredding was done.

We moved our weed eradication blitzing efforts to the Philip Miller beds.

The summary bed continues to look better and better.

Thursday I discovered that we have a Toxicodendron vernicifluum in the garden. Mari brought it up last week when she asked about it while she was printing new labels. I hadn’t had the time to investigate until the weekend when I was putting out labels. It turns out that Rhus verniciflua is a synonym. This explains a nasty itchy burn I had a few weeks ago after removing one of the trees. I should have looked it up before I removed it!

Mari was in Friday and we are very close to having everything properly labelled this year. She is very good at producing our plant labels.

Friday was also Joe’s leaving do and due to the heat, many cancelled on the day so we didn’t have to move to Battersea Park; we enjoyed the comfort of our mess yard which meant we could keep our drinks in the refrigerator. Bonus.

Sunday, after work, I went over to Elizabeth and Rob’s for a final barbecue before they move to New York City for two years. I haven’t processed this yet. It will take a bit to get used to the fact that they aren’t in London for a while. They are a big part of my social life: mid-week dinners until midnight; annual olive harvest in Italy; and Thanksgiving. At 20.00, I crossed the street and joined a Zoom meeting with Kerry, Jeffrey, Matthew, Dianne, Ken and Christopher to record a birthday message for Rick in Wisconsin. I thought it was an appropriate CoVid birthday message.

Plant of the week

Apiaceae Astrantia maxima Pall.

common name(s) - largest masterwort synonym(s) - Astrantia helleborifolia Salisb.; Astrantia heterophylla Willd.; Astrantia speciosa Heynh; Transcaucasia armwnia M.Hiroe conservation rating - none native to - Iran, Transcaucasus, Turkey location - dicotyledon order beds, accession _____ leaves - basal leaves have a long petiole, three to seven lobes and toothed segments flowers - umbrella-shaped, 20mm to 30mm in diameter; small flowers are pinkish-white; central ones are hermaphrodite, while the external ones are male habit - clump-forming herbaceous perennial to 900mm tall by 600mm broad, stem is erect and glabrous, with little branches and few leaves habitat - woodlands and lush meadows, at an altitude of 1,300 to 2,400 metres pests - astrantia leaf miner disease - powdery mildews hardiness - to <-20ºC (H7) soil - moist, fertile, humus-rich sun - full sun to part shade propagation - seeds as soon as ripe or they require a two to three month period of cold stratification for germination to take place; division in spring pruning - deadhead before seed is ripe to prevent self-seeding nomenclature - Apiaceae - celery family; Astrantia - from astron (star) referring to the flower's star-like umbels; maxima - largest NB - AGM

References, bibliography:

Gledhill, David, (2008) “The Names of Plants”, fourth edition; Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 978-0-52168-553-5

IUCN [online] http://www.iucnredlist.org/search [18 Aug 20]

Plant List, The [online] http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-2663983 [18 Aug 20]

Plants of the World [online] http://plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:838341-1 [18 Aug 20]

Royal Horticultural Society [online] https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/1875/Astrantia-maxima/Details [18 Aug 20]

Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrantia_maxima [18 Aug 20]

SARS-CoVid-2 update

(Monday 10 August)

#Astrantia maxima